Seldom do you see a Hong Kong film spending so much time on explaining the technicality of something as specialized as printing fake money to the point it almost feels like a true story. Well, as it turns out, it is based on a true story. The true storyof Arthur J Williams, a Chicago man who grew up in a poor neighborhood and took on counterfeiting the new 1996 bill as a challenge because his girlfriend joked that he couldn't crack the security. The movie would've been great if it kept following the story of Williams, but it didn't, maybe because HK film makers didn't want to pay him millions of dollars to make his bio pic.
The fact that this movie took on the usual suspect's plot should come as no surprise for anyone who lived in the 90s. To me, it was a case of wondering how much crap this director can put in this film before announcing that big surprise at the end? Well, I got my answers by fast forwarding most of the armor vehicle heist, the Rambo in south east Asia scenes, and the ensuing love story. At least the cops-and-robbers part was a little bit more interesting but it was still all too predictable. And when the end came, the director decided to make it politically correct and not let the bad guys walk free, maybe that's the only way it can be shown in mainland China?
I feel this movie tried to be too many things at the same time and ripped off a great true story and made it into a mainstream action film. Apparently, Arthur J Williams' is negotiating with Hollywood producers for the movie right to his story. Hopefully the Hollywood's version will be more focused and hence more watchable than this film.
The fact that this movie took on the usual suspect's plot should come as no surprise for anyone who lived in the 90s. To me, it was a case of wondering how much crap this director can put in this film before announcing that big surprise at the end? Well, I got my answers by fast forwarding most of the armor vehicle heist, the Rambo in south east Asia scenes, and the ensuing love story. At least the cops-and-robbers part was a little bit more interesting but it was still all too predictable. And when the end came, the director decided to make it politically correct and not let the bad guys walk free, maybe that's the only way it can be shown in mainland China?
I feel this movie tried to be too many things at the same time and ripped off a great true story and made it into a mainstream action film. Apparently, Arthur J Williams' is negotiating with Hollywood producers for the movie right to his story. Hopefully the Hollywood's version will be more focused and hence more watchable than this film.